Origin of a Killer
by ninjadragon5
Summary: revenge is best served cold. at least, that was how it was for most of jake's life. how did rattlesnake jake become the ruthless killer he is today? this is my own version on the backstory of rattlesnake jake.
1. Ch 1 A killer is born

Origin of a killer Ch 1.

The sun blazed hot over the scourged earth of the Mojave Desert. No sign of life seemed to exist here expect for a few dry brushes and cactus scattered throughout the landscape, a slight breeze kicked up some red dust, providing no relief to the tense heat. In the middle of the dry landscape laid a rock formation with a small cave and inside it a family of rattlesnakes lived. A large male western diamondback rattlesnake with a female rattlesnake and six of their offspring. The male rattlesnake name was Navajo while the female was named Selene. Navajo was an old rattlesnake, but despite his age, he was a strong one and he had the battle scars to prove it from past fights with other rattlesnakes and hawks. Selene was a lot younger and slightly smaller then her mate, she was not as strong as her mate, but could still win in a fight. These two rattlesnakes were different then most, they mostly kept to themselves and did not raid the towns throughout the area like most rattlesnakes were known to do, they mostly feed off whatever wildlife they had found roaming the desert, but it was hard work considering prey was scarce here and they had six more mouths to feed now. The male would go off hunting during the day while the female would stay behind to watch over their children.

Soon it was the end of another long day and the male had just come back from hunting, but again he came back empty handed. Once he slithered inside the cave, his mate came to greet him.

"Still no luck?" said Selene.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Couldn't find anything expect for a few small lizards and rodents, not enough to feed all of us." said Navajo.

"That's okay; you will have better luck tomorrow." said Selene while nudging her mate's snout.

"You better hope so or we will be on the verge of starvation," Navajo said again.

"Don't talk like that, things will turn around, you'll see." said Selene.

Soon the rattlesnake hatchlings came to greet their father as well. He rubbed their faces as the came to him. The father and his mate gave them all names, Alamar, Nadia, Graciela, Ramiro, Lilia and Jake. Jake was a little different then his siblings, while the rest had the pale green eyes on their mother, he had the bight fiery red and orange eyes of his father. He also had the darker diamond-shaped pattern in his back just like his father. Jake was litltery had the splitting image of his father. Navajo loved his son Jake most of all and hoped he would make it though the rough times. Of course, he loved all his children, but he knew that they would lose some of them eventually if the hard times continued, that was the way of things in the harsh desert, but he hoped Jake would live on.

Despite the slim pickings on food, their live was perfectly peaceful, they bothered on one, so no one bothered them, but one day something changed something that would change Jake's life forever.

One day a stranger rattlesnake came close to their cave, Navajo slithered out from the cave to see who this stranger was. Meanwhile, Selene stayed in the cave close to the children and out of sight. The two rattlesnakes soon meet just a few feet outside the cave; both reared their bodies up and look at each other face to face. From inside the cave, Jake eyed the other stranger rattlesnake with interest, it was a sidewinder rattlesnake, and they were a little smaller then their western cousins and had a slightly paler skin color with a striped pattern on their backs. Even though the two were really from the same species, western diamondbacks and sidewinders did not get along so well. But what seemed odd about this rattlesnake to Jake was the fact he was wearing a cowboy hat and what appeared to be belts strapped all along his body, but Jake could not make out what they were for. Another odd thing was his rattler at the end of his tail, it was a little different from his father's, but Jake couldn't make out what it was that made it look different though. Also, Jake couldn't make it out clearly, but it appeared to have a missing eye, completely clouded over with white.

His father was talking to the sidewinder rattlesnake now, Jake could barely make out what they were talking about, and all that he could hear was a few words out of it.

"Absolutely not, I will not do what you ask!" Navajo said to the other rattlesnake.

"You know it is only a matter of time. Stop avoiding the enviable" the sidewinder rattlesnake said in a sly cold voice.

"No! You will not take him!" Navajo shouted angrily.

At that moment the sidewinder rattlesnake reared up its body a little more and started to shake its rattle, appeared it was going to strike at the western. Navajo then hissed baring his fangs and shaking his rattle rapidly, preparing for a fight, but then the sidewinder thought better of it and swiftly turned away, heading back out into the desert. Navajo continued to stand there shaking his rattle and watched the sidewinder disappear over the horizon. Once he was sure that the sidewinder was gone, he made his way back to the cave.

"What was that all about? Who was that?' Selene asked to her mate.

"Nothing we need to worry about anymore." Navajo said.

Selene looked puzzled at her mate first, and wanted to ask him more, but then he gave her a look that made her stop from speaking. She decided not to press the issue farther and that whatever the situation was, he had cleared it up. After that, Navajo and Selene curled up and settled down for an afternoon nap. The children soon did the same, but Jake remained awake as a millions thoughts were running though his head right now. What did that sidewinder mean by "avoiding the enviable"? and when his father said "you will not take him", take who? He wondered. He did not have any answers and he was pretty sure his father would not tell him since he was so defensive about his mother asking about it. So then he decided to let those thoughts slip out of his mind, so he could finally get some rest.

For the next few days things went back to normal, that sidewinder rattlesnake never returned after that day. Everything was peaceful again, but it did not last long. One day a band of desert dwelling critters were riding on roadrunners through the desert, soon they starting to ride to towards the cave the rattlesnakes were in. Navajo lying on the ground close to the cave soon noticed them and told Selene and his children to go back into the cave, they did so. Selene coiled herself near the entrance of the cave, with the children close behind her. Navajo reared his body up high and shook his rattle wildly as a warning for the group to stay away, but that did not work, they kept coming forward. The group soon halted their roadrunners a few feet away from the snake. They looked to be townsfolk from a town near by. Normally, no one would have the guts to confront a rattlesnake because they were generally greatly fear in most towns, but this group was hard determined to hunt this snake down. The leader that was in front of the group, which as a horned lizard, dismounted his roadrunner and stepped towards the rattlesnake, eyeing with an distasteful expression on his face. The horned lizard then pulled out his pistol from its hoister and aimed at the snake.

Navajo hissed loudly and said "What is the meaning of this?"

"We have come here to hunt you down to pay for your crimes." Said the horned lizard

"What crimes? What in the world have a done?" Navajo said as he leaned down face to face with the horned lizard.

The horned lizard did not even move an inch, he just stood firm and said "Don't lie to me, demon!"

Navajo hissed loudly again in the horned lizard's face, "lies?" he said.

Still not intimidated, the horned lizard spoke. "I know it was you that raided our town and took someone from there, we have several witnesses to prove that."

"I have done nothing of the sort!" Navajo shouted angrily.

The horned lizard just ignored his words and said "we have been following a snake trail for days, the trail lends here."

Navajo knew that was impossible, he had never even been remotely close to a town ever since he had been here; they clearly had the wrong snake

"Either you come with us or we will shoot you down here and now." said the horned lizard again.

"I'm telling you it was not me! I have taken no one!" Navajo shouted again.

"Fine, have it your way." The horned lizard said. .

At that moment, the rest of the group drew out their guns and aimed them at the snake. Navajo reared back up and hissed, ready for a fight.

"Take him down, men." The horned lizard said.

The moment after that, the group of townsfolk opened fire upon the rattlesnake. Navajo easily dodged their bullets and made a strike for the horned lizard, but he ducked and rolled away just in time and fired his gun as well. Selene and the children watched in shock and horror from the cave as the male rattlesnake was fighting for his life. Most of the hatchlings were trembling in fear, but Jake remained calm, he was rooting for his father all the way. The horned lizard got back on his roadrunner as the rest of the group and they started to run around the snake continuing to fire gunshot rounds at him. Navajo used is quick movements to avoid the bullets, and made a strike at them when ever he could, but he missed every time. Finally, as he swung his head swiftly around, he managed to grab one of the riders, he torn the rider of his roadrunner and pinned him to the ground with his mouth around his body. But pinning this one rider down left him open to the other riders in the group and they were willing to sacrifice one rider to bring down this rattlesnake. Suddenly a rider got behind him and fired off a shot from his gun, this time the bullet did not miss its target. From the pain of the bullet hitting his body, he let go of the rider and let a loud yell of pain. Then more riders came close to him and fired of their weapons, this time the bullets did not miss.

After twisting his body around in agonizing pain for a few moments, his body soon collapsed on the ground, blood poured out his body and mouth. Selene was in utter shock at what had just happened. The riders soon stopped running around the snake, the horned lizard dismounted his roadrunner again and walk towards the defeated rattlesnake until he only a few inches from his face. Navajo tired to get back up, but he was too weak and badly hurt to do so. The horned lizard then pointed the gun at the rattlesnake's head, the snake's eyes soon filled with fear, filling the gun barrel with the last bullet he had and in a cold icy voice he said.

"Go to hell, demon."

At that moment the horned lizard fired the bullet straight through the rattlesnake's head and he died instantly. Navajo was no more. Selene could not believe what she had just saw, her mate, the strongest rattlesnake that ever was, was murdered by mere gunslingers before he very eyes. Selene was on the verge of tears, so was Jake and his other siblings, but what was followed by sadness, soon came hate the struck thought Jake like an arrow, right at the moment he wanted to tear all of those riders limp from limp for killing his father. But before Jake could do anything, his mother rushed out of the cave towards them.

"Bastards!" Selene screamed at them.

The group soon noticed the female rattlesnake racing towards them. They all immediately fire their guns at her, she was able to dodge some of the bullets, but she was not quick enough to dodge them all. Soon she was easily gunned down just like her mate was and her body collapsed to the ground. Blood began to pour out of her bullet wounds and she started to cough up blood from her mouth. The horned lizard walked towards her as well, pointing the gun at her head and without little hesitation, he fired his gun and a bullet went straight though her head as well and she too was killed instantly. Jake was so in shock at what had just happened that he could not move or utter a single word, both his parents had been murdered before his very eyes.

The horned lizard soon looked towards the cave where the female rattlesnake had come from and he soon said to the rest of his men "Check out that cave over there, if there are any more of them in there, kill them."

"Yes, boss." said one of his men.

The group of gunslingers soon came closer towards the cave. Jake was in utter fear and panic now, they had killer his parents without remorse and now they were coming to kill him and his brothers and sisters. Jake quickly looked for a place to hide while his siblings simply just huddled close together, trembling in fear. Soon Jake found a small space under a rock that was big enough for him to squeeze under, so he went for it. He wished that his brother and sisters would hurry up and find hiding places for themselves, but they refused to move. Jake dreaded to think what would happen next. Soon one of the gunslingers came into the cave and spotted the terrified rattlesnake hatchlings.

The gunslinger turned his head back towards outside and shouted. "Your right boss, there is more!"

"Then get rid of them!" the horned lizard shouted back.

With that, the gunslinger turns back towards the rattlesnake hatchlings and without thinking twice, garbing the first snake but its head and dragging it out of the cave. It hissed and shrieked in fear, but it did little to deter the gunslinger from dragging it off. Once Jake saw the gunslinger drag one of his brothers fully out of the cave, the next sound he heard was a gunshot and then silence, Jake knew instantly what it meant, one of his bothers had just been killed. Then the gunslinger came back and grabbed the next rattlesnake by its head and dragged it out as well. Jake could only watch in horror as his brothers and sisters were being dragged out of the cave one by one and shot to death. He fought every urge in his body to go out there and attack them, but he knew he would be killed as well. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping this was all just a horrible nightmare and that he would wake up from it, but no, he could still hear the sound of gunfire and his brothers and sisters dying screams. Soon the last rattlesnake was dragged out and killed and the gunslinger came back to take a last look around to see if there were anymore, Jake prayed to whatever god there was that he would not find him.

:"I think we got the last of them." Said the gunslinger as he turned towards outside.

"Then let's get out of here." said the horned lizard back.

The gunslinger then left the cave, Jake could hear the gunslinger group get back on their roadrunners and start to race away. When Jake finally decided it was safe, he crawled out from his hiding place and went towards outside the cave, but he dreaded to see what horrors had unfolded. As he slithered outside the cave, his mouth hung open at what he saw, the dead bodies of his family laid scattered throughout the sandy ground with blood splattered everywhere, all of them had been shot though the head. Jake went over to his father and nudged his snout a little, but it was no good, he did not move. Jake then decided to climb to the top of the rock formation where his home was. Once he got to the top, he looked over the desert valley; he could see the gunslinger group riding off in the distance over the horizon.

In that moment, ever part of his intestines and mind turned into black liquid hate, from this day forward he swore revenge, and he didn't care if it took him the rest of his lifetime. He would find his family's murderers again and he would make them pay.


	2. Ch 2 Devil's advocates

Origin of a killer Ch 2

Jake stayed at his cave for a little while longer, trying to figure out what to do next. He wanted revenge for sure, but I didn't know how to first start out in doing so. He was all alone now, he had no one to rely on and he had no idea of where to go or how to find his family's murderers. He didn't have much to go on expect a face and a voice, but he would never forget that voice and face of that murderer. Finally, he decided to move on so he left the cave and slithered out into the desert, there was no point in staying here any longer. He had no idea which way to go, he had hoped he could follow the trail of the gunslinger group, but no, most of the trail was worn away now my wind and sand. So he just pushed onward which ever way to find someone or something that could give him some sense of direction. What he was most hoping for that he could find a town of some sort, but he knew rattlesnakes were not very liked in towns; still it was his only hope.

He traveled in the open desert for hours, but he still found nothing, no sign or any other animals or any kind of civilization. It was in the peak of the hot day and Jake could feel it, he could feel the sun's rays slowly sapping away his strength every passing minute, but he did not want to stop because he felt the more time he wasted, the less chance he would of finding those gunslingers. But soon the heat was so intense that his body could barely go on, his body was slowly baking in the sun, the sand felt hot on his underbelly as well. His mouth became very dry and parched, he wanted so much for even a small drink of water right now, but he knew there was none to be had here. He could see the heat waves dance in front of his eyes on the horizon, giving the illusion of water, even though there was none. Finally, Jake admitted he had no choice but to stop and find a place to rest or he would die out here, but as soon as he starting looking for a place to settle down, suddenly a shadow flew over him, any snake would know what that meant…

Hawk!

Jake looked up in the sky franticly and saw the hawk flying in circles high in the sky, he desperately looked for a place to hide around him, but there was none. So then he decided it was best to run for it, which ended up being a bad move on his part. The hawk soon spotted him and circled around and dove down at him. Despite every inch of his body aching and his lungs burning, he did not dare stop now. The hawk dove down at him and out stretched it's talons to grab Jake, the hawk got closer fast and Jake tried to move faster, but it was no use, the hawk was gaining on him. Just when the hawk about to grab him, Jake quickly darted away to the right and the hawk missed. Then the hawk flew up again and circled around to have another go at the snake. Jake continued to search for a place to hide, but he found nothing suitable, so he continued to race on. Soon the hawk dove down at him again, Jake tried his trick again at the last second the hawk approached, but this time it not work, the hawk managed to grab hold of Jake and was starting to carry him off. Jake started to see everything around him become smaller as he was lifted of the ground.

Jake was in an utter panic now, he knew it was just seconds away from death. He was desperately trashing his body around to try to break free, but the hawk held a firm grip on him. Then, as a last resort he drove his deadly fangs into one the hawk feet. He didn't know how to use his venom yet, so it was a dry bite. The hawk screeched in pain and finally let go off him, but then Jake so realized that was a stupid move too as he plummeted towards the ground. Jake hit the ground hard knocking the wind out of him, meanwhile the hawk circled around him again in the sky to make another go at him. Jake soon recovered from the fall and started to race off again, this time he found a rock he could hide under, so he went for it. Just when he was about to reach the rock, the hawk dove for him again and as Jake slid under the rock, the hawk managed to grab the end of his tail. The hawk screeched and flaps its wings and tried to put Jake back out from under the rock, but Jake used all his strength to prevent the hawk from doing so, but the hawk was winning. Jake soon heard a snapping noise and he winced in pain. Then suddenly Jake quickly turned around and bit the hawk again in the foot. The hawk soon let go and Jake managed to slither farther under the rock. Then the hawk tried to get at him with it beak, but its head was too big to fit under the rock and Jake was just out of its reach. The hawk shrieked in frustration and so turned away from the rock's entrance. It then flew up again and perched it's self on top of the rock. The hawk could not get to the Jake now, so it decided to wait for him to come out again. Jake knew the hawk was still there, he could see its shadow in the sunlight. Jake's body was throbbing in pain, he turned his head to look at what was caused the pain, he soon realized he was bleeding and once he looked at his tail, he saw that his rattler was missing, just a bloody stub was there now. The hawk must have managed to rip off his rattler. Jake felt ashamed to lose his rattler to a hawk, but at least he was alive.

The hawk stayed perched on top of the rock for a long while, while Jake stayed under the rock. Jake wondered how long the hawk was going to stay there, he needed food and water soon, plus his tail wound was bleeding badly, if it was not properly treated soon, it would become infected. Jake licked at his tail to try to stop the bleeding, but it didn't little good. Jake then soon came to the realization that he might die here even if the hawk got him or not, either from blood lose or starvation, Jake soon grew very weak and started to slowly close his eyes to accept his fate. Then suddenly gunfire rung out that made Jake jump back to life, then a few seconds later the hawk dropped down dead on the ground in front of him. Jake was about to slither out from under the rock to see who had fired off those shots, but just then something huge came into view over the rock. Once it got into full view, Jake saw it was another snake. It made its way over towards the hawk, it looked it over and poked at it with its tail to make sure the hawk was dead. Then the snake started to come towards the rock and Jake slithered further back under the rock again.

The snake stopped near close to the rock and said in a deep western accent "it is okay, you can come out now. I will not harm you."

Jake was hesitating and was not sure to trust this stranger snake, but soon he slowly came out from under the rock to get a good look at who had saved him. It was another rattlesnake very much like him expect he was paler in skin color and had more of stripped pattern on his back. He wore a dark gray cowboy hat on his head, it was torn and ruffled around the edges and had what looked like teeth set around the rim. He had several belts strapped around its body and they were all holding bullets. What Jake found most odd about this stranger that when he looked at his tail, in place where his rattler was suppose to be was a metal object that looked the nose of a huge gun, but it was a gun Jake a never seen before. Then Jake looked back at the snake's face and soon noticed there was a huge scar over his left eye and it was completely clouded over in white. His right eye was normal and had a piercing orange-yellowish color to it. The stranger snake soon seemed familiar to Jake, but he could pick out where he had seen this snake before.

"Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" The stranger snake soon said.

Then Jake slowly shamefully lifted his tail up, the stranger snake saw that his rattler was missing.

'Ah, I see that hawk took your rattler, that is too bad. What is a rattlesnake without its rattle?" the stranger snake said

"You're awfully young for ya to be on your own. Where your parents? "said the stranger snake again.

Jake then lowered his head and softy said "they were killed."

"Oh, sorry to hear that" the stranger snake said.

Then suddenly it dawned on Jake where he had seen this snake before, he was that sidewinder rattlesnake that visited his father a few days back, perhaps they knew each other, he wanted to ask, but he was afraid too.

Finally he brought up his courage and asked the stranger snake "ummm….pardon me…but did you know my father?"

The sidewinder paused for a minute and then said "why yes, I did know your father. He was an old friend of mine. You must be his son? "

Jake slightly nodded his head in sadness of remembering his father.

"Do you have a name, son?" said the sidewinder snake again

"Ummm…..Jake." he told the sidewinder snake.

"Jake, that is a good name. I'm sidewinder." said the sidewinder snake.

Jake felt that name was a little obvious since he was a sidewinder rattlesnake, but he dare not make fun over his name.

"What where you doing wandering the desert all by ya self anyway? " said Sidewinder again.

Jake was hesitant to say why, not sure if should tell the truth to this stranger or just make up a lie, but before he could say anything, Sidewinder said " I bet you are looking for the killers that took your parents lives. You want revenge do you? "

Jake was kind of shocked at what Sidewinder had said "how to you know that?'

"I see it in your eyes, kid. I see a deep hate in them. Besides, since your parents were killed, that would be the obvious thing to do, that is what I would do. "said sidewinder.

"Yes, I do want that." Jake said with a bit of anger in his voice.

Then Sidewinder reared part of his body up so he would tower over Jake and then he said in a deep commanding voice "join me, kid and I will make sure you get the revenge you deserve. I give you my word on this"

Jake looked up at sidewinder in awe, as if he was some great legend of some type. Jake was still unsure whether to fully trust the stranger or not, but he didn't have much of a choice, he had no one else to go with expect him. If this snake was truly going to give him what he wanted, then this would bring him much closer to accomplishing his goal.

"yes." Jake finally said to Sidewinder.

"Good, come with me then" said Sidewinder.

And with that, the two snakes began to travel together on into the desert. Jake had made his choice now, a choice that would determine the rest of his life and there was no going back at this point.

The two snakes traveled on for a long time, making frequent rest stops along the way, Sidewinder lead Jake to find food and water that he needed. Soon Sidewinder decided it was best to travel at night and rest during the heat of the day, it was more dangerous at night, but they made better progress then traveling by day and Jake knew he would be safe now with Sidewinder at his side. Jake had no idea where this stranger was leading him too, but he hoped it was some place safe. Sidewinder temporary bandaged up Jake's wounded tail to stop it from bleeding; Sidewinder said he would fix it up properly once they got to their final destination.

Finally, the two snakes a reached what looked an abandoned barn of some out in the middle of the desert, most likely left behind by man. It was old and worn down with age, several pieces of board were missing everywhere, it looked liked it was ready to fall down. Once Jake and Sidewinder went inside the barn, there was a group of other snakes all lying around inside. The other snakes started to lift their heads and look at sidewinder then at Jake, once they saw Jake, they started to hiss and slither forward. Jake soon became scared of them.

Then Sidewinder said "stand down, he is with me."

And with that, the other snakes backed away.

Then Sidewinder said to Jake "not need to worry, they are friends of mine."

Jake still felt nervous around them as they continued to stare at him with envious eyes. Soon Sidewinder called the other snakes over to meet the newcomer. Jake soon noticed they were all snakes were of different kinds, a glossy snake that was a tan color and had sort of a leopard spotted pattern on his back and his scales at a certain shine to them. That snake was also wearing a cowboy hat that of a tan color, it was not as torn looking as the one Sidewinder was wearing, he had also had belts strapped all along his body, but instead of holding bullets, it held knives. The next snake was a gopher snake, this snake looked female, her scales were a yellowish color with a series of large black blotches on her back, and smaller dark spots on her sides. She wore a black bowler hat on her head, there were black leather straps crisscrossing all along her body with metal studs in them and what looked a whip strapped to one of them. The last snake look like another rattlesnake similar to Jake, he had a similar diamond shaped pattern on his back, expect he was more of a green color and he was relatively small of his size, about the size Jake was now. He also wore a cowboy hat; he was a dark brown color with the sides slightly lifted up and a metal emblem at the rim. He had a chain wrapped around his body with an iron ball with spikes at one of the end of it. They all continued to stare at Jake with a distasteful stare, Jake stayed real close to sidewinder of being nervous of them.

Sidewinder finally spoke "this is Jake, he going to be our newcomer to the gang."

"Dammit Sidewinder, why you always bringing in juveniles?" The female snake said.

"He may be young, but I see great potential in him." Sidewinder said to the female snake.

"He doesn't look like much." Said the green rattlesnake white he was eyeing Jake.

'Trust me, he will be." Sidewinder said to the other snakes.

Sidewinder then leaned down towards Jake and pointed out to one of the other snakes.

: "This is jackknife." He said as pointed towards the glossy snake with knives.

"And this is mona and Tajo." As he pointed to the other two snakes

"They are all part of my gang and you are now a part of it too. We are known as the devil's advocates." said Sidewinder.

Jake continued to stare at them nervously, I was not sure of what to think of this other snakes, he soon got the idea he was not welcomed here by them.

Then sidewinder said loudly to the others "no one shall harm him expect me, if I find any one of you harm a single scale on him, I will rip your spine out, understand!"

"Yes, boss." The others snakes all said at once.

And with that, Sidewinder lead Jake away from the other snakes and to a more secluded part of the barn.

"Your training starts tomorrow." Sidewinder then said to Jake.

"Training?" Jake asked.

"Yes, you want to become a tough fighter do you? Then I will teach you everything." Sidewinder said back.

Sidewinder soon stopped in front of Jake and said "but that comes later, for now sleep."

Then a split second later sidewinder pushed a wet cloth in front of Jake's eyes with his tail, Jake had no time to react. Once sidewinder pulled the cloth away, Jake's eyes became blurry and he started to feel drowsy. He tired to stay awake, but the sleepy effect was taking a good hold on him. Finally, Jake gave into his drowsiness and the world around him started to go dark, soon enough he was out cold.

*** .

Jake didn't know how long he was out, but when he woke up he found Sidewinder coiled up lying close to him, his eyes were still a little blurry and he still felt drowsy from passing out. Once sidewinder noticed he was waking up, he lifted his head up and came over to him.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake." Sidewinder said.

What the hell just happened? Jake wondered, what was that that Sidewinder I just done to him. I wasn't sure if could trust this snake again. Jake was about to ask what the meaning of that was, but before he could, Sidewinder spoke out again.

'don't worry, you're fine, but I had to put your out to fix you tail properly." He said.

Then when Jake became to move his body, his tail suddenly felt a lot heavier to lift, he turned around to look at it and in place where is rattler was, was a long metal object that looked like a nose of a gun with six barrel segments stalked on top of each other, it looked at it with great shock, but with some interest too. Now he had this huge metal thing attached to himself. Jake then turned back towards Sidewinder again.

'You have your own weapon of justice now. Use it well; it is a part of you now. I have one myself.' Sidewinder said as he dragged his tail over and showed of his tail gun to Jake. Jake and his were exactly the same.

Sidewinder then aimed his gun at one of the barn walls, then all six segments began to rotate in place, then they all suddenly stopped with a few clips and then Sidewinder fired off his tail fun, blasted a huge hole through the wooden wall of the barn. Jake was a little surprised, it was indeed in fact a gun.

Then Sidewinder turned back towards Jake and said "with this you can take your revenge and so much more."

Jake then pulled his tail over and looked over his new given weapon, as he looked over the silver metal shining in the sunlight peaking though the barn, Jake grew a sense a of satisfaction and pleasure and a evil smile spread across his face while thinking all of the things he could do with this.

"Now your training begins" said Sidewinder

And with that, Jake and Sidewinder went outside the barn.

Sidewinder had started to train Jake on how to use his tail gun, how to shoot and aim it properly. And then even how to fight when he could not use his tail gun. He taught how use his venom properly and also sparingly as it was not totally a unlimited resource, a snake's venom would run out eventually. Even though Sidewinder was Jake's teacher now, he was no push over, his teachings were often cruel and strict, he made him work long hours from dawn until dusk and often beat him went he did not do things right, but instead of weakening Jake, it made him stronger and tougher and more determined to learn things right so he could accomplish his one goal, getting his revenge. Slowly, but surely, Sidewinder was shaping Jake up to be the greatest killer gunslinger there ever would be.


	3. Ch 3 revenge is a dish best served cold

Origin of a Killer Ch 3

"_**Revenge is a dish best served cold." **_

Over the next few passing months Jake soon grew into a huge adult western diamondback rattlesnake, a striking resemblance to his father. From his training from Sidewinder, he soon perfected the use of his rail gun, even crafted it to a skill of his own in using it. He soon became the best gunslinger in the gang and earned his place in it. He soon had the honor of wearing his own outlaw outfit; he wore a sleek looking black cowboy hat with barbed wire set around the rim and wore his own set of ammo belts strapped around his body. Also over the months, the look in his eyes grew colder and yet more fiery at the same time, the stare from his eyes seemed to bore though your very soul. The other snakes in the gang soon respected him, even feared him, he had a hate and coldness in him that none of the others seemed to have. Jake only answered to Sidewinder's orders and he was soon old enough to go on the town raids the gang often did, they would come in, destroy and burn own some of the building in the towns and force all the folks that lived in the towns to give up any food or water they had and leave the town with almost nothing. Also they would take one victim from the town with them just to remind the towns of who was boss in this part of the desert. It was what the gang had to do to get by in this harsh environment, most snakes were not welcomed in the towns, and so why not let the town's people fear them instead. In their case, it was better to be feared, then to be loved. With Jake in the gang, anyone that tried to stand against them was quickly taken down and soon they became the most powerful force in this desert valley. Word soon spread about their reputation, if they came to your town, the only best thing you could do was pray that you will live to see the next day.

During the town raids, Jake would often look for his family's killer, he would not dare forget about the revenge he swore long ago. He found many horned lizards in the towns, but none of them matched the voice and face that still laid fresh in his mind. Jake soon grew frustrated and restless as they continued to travel from town to town and still did not find that gunslinger. He was plagued with the thought he might never find him again, but Jake was not willing to give up.

Then one night just when the gang was about to raid another town, Sidewinder went ahead into the town quietly to check the town out, while the rest stayed behind further away. Most of the town was asleep by now and no one noticed he was there. Then soon Sidewinder rejoined with his gang.

"Change in plans, some new info as come up." Sidewinder said to the other

"What is it this time?" Jackknife said.

Sidewinder just seemed to ignore Jackknife's words and turned towards Jake.

"Jake, didn't you say your family's killer was a horned lizard?" Sidewinder said to Jake

"Yes, it was." Jake said coldly

"The sheriff of this town is one, he may be the one you been looking for." Sidewinder said.

Jake was doubtful as first from all the horned lizard he found in the past that were not the one he wanted, but then he thought about it, a sheriff of a town would be the most likely person to have the guts to go hunt down rattlesnakes and would most likely be in family's killer.

"If he is the right one, you may finally get your taste of revenge." Sidewinder said again.

An evil smile spread across Jake's face at that thought.

"Now with that, the plan as to be changed, Jake will go in first quietly and kill that sheriff while the rest of us take care of any lookouts. Jake will give up the single once his job is done, then we can continue on with the raid." He said as he turned towards the others.

Jake and the others agreed to the plan and soon they slithered towards the town. Once they got to the town, Jake and Sidewinder moved in while the others stayed back.

"The sheriff should be at the top of that two story building in the middle of town. Go now." Sidewinder said to Jake.

Without uttering another word, Jake did so. His crawled his way further into town towards the two story building. He tired to keep quiet was possible, one little noise could wake someone up and the whole plan would be foiled, thankfully Jake was very stealthy when he needed to be. He soon reached the building and lightly pushed the front door open with his snout and slithered inside, luckily there was no one of the first floor. Jake soon found a staircase that lend to the second floor and began to climb it, hoping it would lead him to the right place.

While Jake went inside the building, Sidewinder and the other sneaked around the town to keep an eye for any lookouts wandering through the town. Jackknife soon saw someone, a homely looking critter sitting in a chair on a porch of one the building dowsing off, but trying his best to keep himself awake. Jackknife quickly slithered out of sight so he would no see him. The person was soon awakened by the noise of jackknife slithering pass him and he immediately got up to see what the noise was, but before he could do anything else, Jackknife threw one of his knives and it embedded itself into the guy's back and he fell down dead instantly without uttering a single word.

Once Jake got to the top of the stairs, he went down a small hallway and then came to a room he assumed was the sheriff's sleeping quarters. He lightly pushed open the door trying his best to not make a sound. He did see a bed in the room and there was someone lying in it. He then slowly crept into the room towards the bed and reared up part of his body to loom over the person in the bed. Once Jake got a good look at who was lying there, he instantly recognized who it was; it was indeed the horned lizard gunslinger that killed his family so long ago, he would never forget a face. He had finally found who he was looking for and he would be able to take his revenge. His eyes grew wide with rage and he soon pressed the nose of his tail gun into the horned lizard's chest which instantly woke the horned lizard up. The horned lizard woke up only to find himself staring into a face that looked like it came straight out of hell.

Jake drew close to the horned lizard's face while pressing his tail gun deeper into horned lizard's chest to the point he could hardly breathe. He struggled to get up to reach for his pistol lying on the night stand beside the bed, but Jake held him firm and the pistol was just out of his reach. Then Jake said in a deep cold icily voice.

"Look into my face…do you recognize it?"

The horned lizard gave not reply, only looked on at Jake in complete fear while wincing from the agonizing pain of Jake's tail gun digging into his chest.

"Look in my eyes…...do they look familiar to you?" Jake said again drawing ever closer to the horned lizard's face.

Finally, a realization dawn on the horned lizard, he remembered where he had seen those eyes before.

"It…it can't be." Was all the horned lizard with able to mutter out from the increasing pain in his chest.

"Do they look like someone you….MUDERED!" Jake shouted out.

Once his last words were spoken, he quickly drew back from the horned lizard a bit and took his tail gun off the horned lizard chest, but only for a second, not enough time of him to reach his gun, the next second later Jake fired off his tail gun straight in the horned lizard's chest. He was only able to utter out one last dying scream as his blood and guts were splatter and sprayed all throughout the interior of the room and all over Jake's body and face. Jake did not mind, he liked the taste of the killer's blood on his lips. For a moment, Jake just stood still, enjoying the ecstasy of the moment as he continued to watch the horned lizard's blood ooze all over the bed and on to the floor with the look of sear fear and pain prementlty etched on his face. Jake was relieved now that he had finally done it, he had finally gotten the revenge he wanted for so long.

Of course this event did not go unnoticed; soon the whole town was woken up by the sound of gunfire. Soon enough Jake heard the sound of footsteps running up the stairs and with seconds two gunmen charged into the room. At first the two gunmen just stood there in utter shock and horror as they saw their sheriff dead with his guts splattered all over the room and a huge rattlesnake looming over him. Then immediately the gunman started firing off rounds from their guns, sending borage of bullets towards Jake. Jake quickly ducked down low to the floor to dodge all the bullets. The two gunmen were in such a blind frenzy that they didn't seem to realize that they were not hitting anything or the fact they soon ran out of ammo. Once all the sound the gunmen could hear from their guns was a few clicks and realized not one bullet had made it to their attended target, they started to turn and flee. But before they could, Jake who was still low to the floor fired off his tail gun, his bullet hit one of the gunman legs, taking the foot clean off, once the gunman collapsed on the floor, Jake fired off his tail gun again, this time putting a bullet clear though the gunman's head. He did the same to the second gunman who was trying to dash out of the room, one bullet to one the gunman's legs, one bullet to the gunmen's head. A swift quick kill within two shots.

Meanwhile, outside in the rest of the town, chaos started to erupt. Once Jake fired off his gun, Sidewinder and the other snakes got the message clear that he had done his job and they could proceed with the town raid. They grabbed lit touches in their mouths and set some the buildings in the town on fire, the townsfolk started to run all round in panic, while most the townsfolk fled, some grabbed whatever weapons they had and tired to stand up against the snakes, but they were all easily taken down. Soon it became a mad frenzy of gunfire and bullets, dead bodies started to lie all over the ground. Tajo smashed some the building with his ball and chain while jackknife took out some people with throwing his knives and Mona capturing people with her whip for those who tried to escape the town and finally Sidewinder shot down anyone the tried to stand against them.

Eventually, Jake came back out of the building he had killed the sheriff in, once he saw what was going on, he mostly just stood back and watched, he had already done his part, now it was time to let the others do the rest. Of course he took care of any straggles that tired to escape the town or ambush one of the other snakes. Soon enough, Sidewinder and the others rounded up the remaining townsfolk to huddle them in the center of town; Jake soon rejoined the rest of the gang. Once all the townsfolk were huddled together, Sidewinder stood in front of the, while Jake and the others surrounded them to make sure there was no path to escape. All the townsfolk just stood trembling in fear, wondering if they too were just seconds away from death.

Sidewinder soon approached them and said in a loud commanding voice "your town as fallen! Your sheriff is dead and your building are in ruin, surrender to us, give us all your water and we might spare the rest of your pathetic lives!"

The townsfolk had no choice but to obey, they all soon nodded in agreement and then some the townspeople went to fetch the water jug that was in their bank while Jake kept a close eye on them to make sure they didn't try anything sneaky. Soon the townspeople returned rolling out the water jug towards the snake, Sidewinder looked at it with disappointment on his face, the water jug was small and already half empty.

"Are you sure this is all the water you have?" Sidewinder said to the crowd.

One of the townsfolk just silently nodded his head while still trembling in fear.

"*sigh* fine, this will have to do and for that I will spare the rest of you" Sidewinder said to the townsfolk

All the townsfolk seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

"But not without taking another one of you with us." Sidewinder then said in a sinister voice.

Then without warning, Jake lashed out to the nearest person beside him, bared his fangs and dug them deep in the person's body and let his venom flow into his victim. Jake's venom was so potent, the person died instantly as it seeped into the person's body. The rest of the group jumped back away from Jake utterly shocked. Jake then dropped the dead person on the ground and the started to swallow it whole head first, within minutes Jake completely swallowed his new victim whole, skin, bones and all. The rest of the group as appalled and disgusted by what they had just saw. Jake then looked at the rest of the townsfolk with sinister hungry eyes as if wanting to strike at another, but Sidewinder soon stopped him from doing so. Sidewinder soon spoke again that the rest of the group turn back towards him.

"Remember this day well folks, the day hell ascended upon you! If any of you wish to seek vengeance upon us, we will be waiting."

After that, Sidewinder, Jake and the others left the town. Jackknife wrapped up the water jug in his coils and dragged it along with them. They left what remained of the town burning in flames and all of the townsfolk horrified and shaken beyond belief.

Sidewinder soon turned to Jake as they slowly slithered away from the town and said "I trust that you found who you were looking for."

"yes." Jake said back to Sidewinder.

"Good, that is one more snake killer out of the way." Sidewinder said.

Jake was unsure of what to do now, all his life had been focused on one thing he wanted which was revenge, now that he had gotten it, he had nothing else to live for, but he decided to stay with this gang anyway. He was a cold blooded killer now and there was no going back.

Unknown to Jake, that just a few days after he had left his home and the dead bodies of his family, a group of traveling snakes found the bodies, the group was from one the few towns that accepted rattlesnakes and others the like, the town either hated or feared them, more just accepted them passing resentence, some of the most dirty and ruthless outlaws and gunslingers took resentence there, the town was called Hell's Pitt. The group of snakes soon went back to the town to report what they found to the mayor. The mayor decided to investigate the murder, but with little evidence to be found, the killer was never found. After that, the group of snakes decided to bury the bodies in the small graveyard in the town, just out of respect to their fallen ken. The names of the two adult rattlesnakes were soon relieved since they were well known among most rattlesnakes, the offspring were not though, and no one knew that one of them had survived. News of this soon spread among the towns all throughout the Mojave desert. Since Jake and the gang were constantly moving from town to town, news of this remained unknown to them until Sidewinder did come to a town that been told the news, I was not hard to put the two together. He then soon told Jake, he was surprised that someone had found them, if he had stayed just a little longer he would gotten the help he needed, but none of that mattered now. Jake told Sidewinder he wanted to go to the town, but he wanted to go alone. Sidewinder respected that and told him which way to go to reach the town and he soon left. .

The town was a day's journey away from where he and the gang was, it was into late evening when Jake finally reached the town. Once he entered the town, he did get a few looks from the townspeople, but since rattlesnakes were not an uncommon sight here, they soon when back to their own business. Jake soon reached the small cemetery in the town and looked over all the tombstones to find his parents names. He soon came upon a small tombstone adjacently submerged into the sand with his parents names roughly craved into the stone. As he stared at the tombstone, his memories from that day soon flowed back into his mind, those memories still hurt him like fresh open wounds, over time he tired to suppress that memory into the back of his mind, but it had a way of sneaking back up on him like a reoccurring nightmare. As the memories became fresh in his mind again, he tried desperately to fight back tears. It would be kind of embarrassing for a cold hearted killer like him to well up into a sobering mess now. Still he could not prevent from a single tear trickling down his face and on to the ground. He then looked up into the sky, it had turned fully into night now and all the bight stars in the sky could be seen.

Then Jake said in a soft voice that no one else could hear "wherever you are now, if you're watching me, don't be angry with me, I did it for you."

After that, he soon left the graveyard and the town to return to the gang. Even though his parents deaths have been accounted for and he had gotten his revenge, he still felt an empty space inside of him that he knew could never be filled.


	4. Ch 4 your puppet no more

Origin of a Killer Ch 4

Your puppet no more

Now that Jake had gotten his revenge, he was unsure of what to do next, of course he would stay with the gang, he really had no other choice, but even in within the gang in felt like an outsider, the others did not talk to him, mostly because they were afraid of him and his interaction with Sidewinder had been minimal too, only really speaking to him during the town raids that they did. With this, he kind of felt a little bit lonely, he never really saw them as his family because no one could replace the family he had, he often preferred to be alone most of the time, but still the constant avoiding from the other snakes began to make him feel alienated and was beginning to take it's toll on him. Over time, his relationship with Sidewinder and the others was quickly dwelling and thought it was best to go out on his own. He not longer felt needed or that he belonged in the gang anymore. He wanted to leave, but he was not sure if Sidewinder would let him he was the leader and Jake's master after all, but he thought to try to ask anyway.

When the gang was traveling to the next nearest town to raid and they decided to settle down from the night near a rock formation they could all sleep under. Soon it was late evening, the sun was just about to set beyond the horizon and it gave out its last rays of light in a radiant display of reds, oranges, pinks and purples, the temperature in the air was dropping fast and there was not a cloud in the sky, it was going to be another cold starry night. Most of the gang had already settled under the rock formation for a night's rest, only Sidewinder and Jake remained outside. Jake figured now was the best time to tell Sidewinder what he wanted to do.

Jake approached him cautiously and said "Sidewinder."

"What is it, jake?" Sidewinder said as turned towards him.

: Jake passed for a moment trying to pick the best words on how to tell him and then he said "I think it is best that I start to go out on my own from now on."

A look of displeasure spread across Sidewinder's face and he soon said "why is that?"

"I just want to go out my own and start my own life." said Jake.

With still displeasure on his face, Sidewinder said back "while I do respect your wishes, we really need to you here with us. We are planning to do another town raid soon and we really need you to make it go successfully."

"The others are just as good as I am, why need me?" said Jake

"Believe me, we have been able to take over towns we never thought possible thanks to you." Sidewinder said.

"Even so, I don't think I'm needed here anymore." said Jake

"Rattlesnakes do better in numbers then alone, you know?" Sidewinder said back.

"I can handle myself now." Jake said

Then Sidewinder's eyes narrowed and his lips cured up in sort of a snarl and then he said harshly "so this is how you repay me, after all I have done from you, I trained you, made you the best gunslinger that there as ever been and even gave you the chance at the revenge you so desperately wanted and now you want to turn your back on me?"

Jake was kind of taken aback at what he said to him, that he would throw something like that at him as if trying to prevent him from leaving.

"Yes, I know, I am grateful for that and I'm not turning my back in you, but I feel there is no point in staying with your gang any longer." Jake said back firmly.

Sidewinder suddenly quickly moved closer to Jake to get right up to his face and stared him down with his one remaining eye, but Jake did not back down.

Sidewinder then said coldly "if you abandon us now, I will take it as a betrayal of the gang and of me and I will kill you where you stand right now."

Jake eye's widened in surprise that Sidewinder had said that, how could he do that? The same rattler that trained him and had become his close friend for so long, just suddenly turn on him like that?

While still staring directly in Jake's face, he then said "once you join a gang, you don't leave. I will make sure you never leave and if you try to escape, I will hunt you down and kill you. "

And with that, Sidewinder turned away and slithered under the rock formation where the others were and also keeping an eye on Jake to make sure he did not try to escape. Jake was still in shock at what Sidewinder had just said, but he soon followed Sidewinder under the rock and coiled himself next to one of the other gang members. Sidewinder kept his eye on him until he would fell asleep. While thinking of what Sidewinder at said, jake soon realized Sidewinder's true motives now. He did not care about Jake, he never did. He was using Jake for his own gain, if he really cared about him, he would let Jake leave, but Sidewinder was preventing him from doing so. Jake also figured that all the stuff Sidewinder had told when he was younger were probably all lies just to get to join the gang. Well, not of it was a lie he thought, he did get the revenge he was promised, but now Sidewinder was treating him more like a tool then a person and Jake did not like that. He did not like being bossed about by that guy anymore. He had to find a way to escape without getting himself killed in the process and he had to do it soon.

The snake gang soon came to the town they were planning to raid next, it was like any other town in this desert valley, small, rundown and living there was hard and the gang was about to make even harder. They waited until nightfall to start the raid, which was the best time to do one, most everyone would be asleep and no one would suspect it. Once they got into the town, Sidewinder gave everyone there jobs to do. Once the rest the members of the gang went the separate ways, Sidewinder held Tajo back for a bit and told him. "Keep a close eye on Jake; make sure he does not do anything stupid."

"Yes, boss." Tajo said back to Sidewinder.

And with that, Tajo followed Jake, but made sure he was not noticed by him. Sidewinder and the others starting to do what they have done on every raid, the start to set fire to the building in the town with touches and once the townspeople started running out screaming in panic, they would start gun them down and round them up to make surrender all their food and water to them.

Jake decided to slither into a small lodge that had not been set on fire yet to check out if there were any straggles hiding. Most of the rooms in the lodge were already empty expect for one, Jake soon came upon a small room where a family of three seemed to be hiding, they were desert hares, all three huddled together on the floor and were trembling in fear. Once the saw Jake, one of them that looked to be the father weakly stood up and drew up out his pistol and aimed it directly at Jake while what appeared the mother and child continue to huddle together on the floor. Despite the father hare still trembling in fear from head to toe, he still managed to hold up his gun and aim it at Jake's face, Jake soon drew his tail gun and aimed at the desert hare. Despite them having their guns aimed at each other, jake knew he could fire off his tail gun way before the desert hare was able to fire his gun. But in that moment the memory of that faithful day when his family was killed by the horned lizard gunslinger flowed back into his mind and he became to see himself and his family though the family of desert hares in front on him. The father, mother and child were scared just as much he and his family was that day. And in the moment he realized what he had become, a monster. Was he really any better then that gunslinger that killed his family so long ago? To kill without reason or remorse? This family was no real threat to him, they were just praying to his out this situation alive. Then Jake decided he did not want to become that anymore. Finally Jake decided to lower his gun and he turned away from the desert hare family. He would let them live, he did not see any gain in killing them, they were just innocent people.

Jake soon came out of the lodge, pretending that he had found no one in there, but unknown to him Tajo saw the whole thing happened. Then Tajo immediately rushed over to Sidewinder and told him what he saw, once Sidewinder heard this he became furious.

He immediately rushed over to were Jake was and shouted at him "Jake, get over here!"

Jake reluctantly obeyed and slithered over towards Sidewinder, once the two snakes meet, Sidewinder shouted at Jake " what the hell is this I hear that you let a family of hares go?"

Jake was surprised the Sidewinder at found out what he done, Jake soon figured someone must of saw him and snitched on him, he was not sure who it was, but if he found out, that person would pay, but right now he had his angry boss to deal with.

"They were no real threat to us, so I didn't see the point in killing them," Jake said.

Then Sidewinder let out a loud hiss at Jake and said "you idiot! Have you learned nothing? Every single person who can hold a gun is an enemy to us! If we let any of them go, they will have the chance to come back after us and kill us!"

"I did not see that from them." Jake just said back

"Does not matter! I ordered you to kill any one that had a gun! You may be a diamondback rattlesnake, but I 'm still boss here and you will do what I say without question!" Sidewinder continued to shout angrily at Jake.

Then Jake suddenly let out a hiss at Sidewinder, earlier he would not have the guts to go up against his master, but he had enough of being bossed around.

Then Sidewinder's eyes grew wide with rage and he quickly swing around his tail, and smacked Jake hard across the face with his tail gun. The hit had made a long cut over his right eye. Jake then looked back at Sidewinder with narrowed eyes and was breathing heavily, the look he gave Sidewinder was hate, and the same hate he had for the gunslinger that killed his family. Jake had enough beatings from him and no longer wanted to be under his rule. Then Jake hissed loudly at Sidewinder again and then rushed pass him, he was going to make his escape now, whether really or not.

"Jackknife!" Sidewinder then shouted loudly.

Jackknife heard him and saw what was going on and quickly rushed in front of Jake before he could get out of the town into the open desert. They both stared each own and reared up their bodies into the classic S shape as if preparing for a fight if there needed to be one. .

"Jackknife, if you know what is good for you, you will get out my way," Jake spoke out.

"I'm sorry." was the only thing Jackknife said back.

Jake was about really to lunge for him, but before he had the chance to, Sidewinder quickly snuck up behind him and wacked in the back with his tail gun again. The impact made Jake collapse on the ground. Once he was on the ground, Jackknife pinned him down this his body. Jake quickly recovered and struggled to break free, but Jackknife held him down firm.

Meanwhile during all this, the town had gone into complete chaos; most of the townspeople had managed to escape from the town by now. Some of the townspeople were dumping their food and water on to the ground, they figured they rather let the desert have it then the snakes, they knew they were going to lose it anyway. The remaining two snakes, Tajo and Mona, could barely handle the mayhem, they tried to round up or kill as many people as they could, but there was just too many. All the gang members were needed to make this raid plan work, but their teamwork had quickly fallen apart. The townspeople decided it was best to get rid of all their water, so two men rushed to the bank where the main water jug was held that supplied all the water to the town. Tajo and Mona soon saw what they were about to do, and rushed after them, but it was too late, by the time they got to the bank, they had already opened the jug and let the contents spill out. The two snakes just watched helplessly as the water spill out on the ground and quickly seep thought the floorboards of the bank and into the dry sand. Tajo and Mona could only let out disgusted snarls at this.

"There! Now you will get nothing from us you filthy snakes!" one of the two men shouted.

Then both Tajo and Mona struck at them with their fangs, they caught them both and they both died instantly in their months, but it did not matter if they killed them now, they had already lost what the came here for. The raid had ended in complete failure.

They had no choice but to break the bad news to their boss. Mona soon slithered over to where Sidewinder was, who was looming over Jake with intense anger. Mona knew he would be furious with all of them for letting this happen, but it was their job to report everything to Sidewinder.

"Umm….boss" Mona said to Sidewinder timidly.

"What?" Sidewinder shouted back making Mona jump back a little.

"Eh…..sorry, but we lost all the water here." Mona said still in a timid voice.

Sidewinder's eyes grew wide with rage again. "dammit!" he shouted.

"This is all your fault, Jake!" Sidewinder said has he quickly turned back towards Jake who was still pinned to the ground by Jackknife.

"If you had done what you were told to do, none of this would have happened!" Sidewinder shouted. .

"I don't need to listen to you anymore." Jake mudded out

"As long as I'm here, you will. You will pay for your insolence." Sidewinder said as he leaded in close to Jake's face.

Since the raid had ended in complete failure, the snakes could do nothing more but leave the town, they had already lost what they came for. Sidewinder lead the way out with Jake still reluctantly following him, but this time with Jackknife and Tajo close in front and behind him to make he not try to escape again. They eventually traveled back to the abandoned barn which served pretty much as their main home. Once they were inside the barn, Sidewinder turned to face Jake with Jackknife and Tajo still close beside him. Sidewinder and Jake both stared at each other with intense eyes. Then Sidewinder came over to Jackknife and whisper something in his ear that Jake could not hear. Jackknife's eyes went wide with shock.

"But, boss…." Jackknife soon said

"Do it.' Sidewinder said in a commanding voice.

Then Jackknife just slightly nodded his head and then turned to Tajo and looked at him with a sign of discontent, Tajo soon nodded too as if e knew what the look meant. Soon both of them slithered away from Jake and Mona took their place by moving closer to Jake. Sidewinder continue to stare at Jake with fury in his eyes, Jake had no idea what was going to happen next, but starting to get an uneasy feeling that something bad was going to happen. Suddenly a rope noose had wrapped tightly around Jake's neck, he let out a loud hiss as it was done so, and he had no time to react. Then suddenly another rope was tied tightly around his tail where his tail gun was. Jackknife had the rope that was around Jake's neck with Tajo had the other end. They started to pull at the rope with their months going in opposite directions and started to out stretch Jake's body. Jake hissed and trashed violently as they did so, but he could not break free, they held firmly in the ropes. But it did take all of their strength to keep Jake from breaking free. As jackknife was pulling the rope he made the rope tighter around Jake's neck to the point he was barely able to breathe, Tajo did the same at his end. Soon Jake's body was out stretched to it's full length and once Jackknife and Tajo could pull his body no one they tied both ends of the ropes to iron spikes that were sticking out of the ground, once they did that the moved out the way from Jake. Jake could barely move with his body out stretched to its limit, every thrash he tired to make seemed to only hurt him more. He tried desperately to get his gun tail free, but it was no good, the rope held tightly. Then Sidewinder went over to the barn wall and took an object that was hanging from it and attached it to his tail gun. Once Sidewinder turned back towards Jake, he could make out clear what it was. It was a metal bracelet the fit perfect around the tip of his gun tail and had three slightly curved blades sticking out of it in a row, almost giving the appearance of a hawk's talons. Sidewinder moved closer to Jake with the weapon raised high. Jake was getting a little scared now, but he dare not show it on his face, he would not give Sidewinder that satisfaction.

Sidewinder soon got close to Jake's face again and said "this is what happens to those who disobey me, Jake. I can be your best friend or worst enemy, but you seem to choice the latter."

The rope was wrapped too tightly around Jake's neck for to utter any words out, so Jake just curled his lips and snarled at him. Then Sidewinder moved to the right side of jake and with one big quick swing with his tail the curved blades scratched all along the back of Jake's body making three long gashes into his body. Jake hissed and yelled in agony, it was the most horrible pain he ever felt, like his back was on fire. The other snakes just looked on and winced at what happened, none of them dared to speak out against at what their boss was doing or they would just meet the same fate. Once Jake finally stopped screaming in pain, Sidewinder turned back towards Jake's face and said.

"Now are you willing to obey me?"

Jake just looked at him for a brief moment and then finally nodded his head yes in response. Of course, there was no way Jake was going obey him now, but considering the situation he was in now, if he had said no, Sidewinder would just slash him again and would continue to do it until he got the answer he wanted and Jake was not sure how much of it he could take, one slash was painful enough. So Jake just say yes so Sidewinder would not torture him any longer.

"A wise choice" Sidewinder soon said.

"Untie him." Sidewinder said again as turned towards the other snakes and then went back towards the barn wall and hung the weapon back up on its hook.

Then Jackknife and Tajo untied the ropes that held Jake and his body slumped to the ground. Then Sidewinder and the others moved away from Jake, it was best Jake was left alone now. As Jackknife, Tajo and Mona turned away they seemed to have disheartened looks on their faces. Jake tried to move, but every time he did, his back erupted with pain, the gashes on his back were not life threatening, but they still hurt like hell. So Jake decided just to lay there for a few minutes. Finally, much later on, Jake summoned enough strength to slowly slither into a corner of the barn, his wounds still hurt when he moved, but this time he could tolerate the pain. He slithered in a corner where there was some hay, hoping it would relieve some of the pain he was in. The gashes on his back prevented him from coiling up his body, so he rested with his body out stretched. As Jake rested there, thoughts raced though his head, he now saw Sidewinder for what he truly was, he was nothing more then a crazed lunatic that manipulated people to do whatever he wanted them to do, he was no longer the hero he admired on that day they first meet so long ago. He was ready to kill Sidewinder now, but he knew he would a better chance of escaping him. He was definitely going to try to escape now no matter what it took

As time passed, Jake continued to rest in his corner, hoping his wounds would heal soon. The other snakes were all coiled up and huddled together at the other end of the barn, Sidewinder was no where to be seen. They seemed to be whispering in a conversation jake could not hear and would look over at him from time to time. Jake was too exhausted and in pain to care what they were talking about. Finally, the female snake, moan, built up enough courage to approach Jake, she quietly slithered over to where he was. Once she got close to Jake, he just slightly lifted his head in her direction. She paused for a minute thinking of the right words to say. Jake was getting a little irritated, if she wanted to say something to him, just say it or go away and leave him be.

Mona finally spoke "how are you doing?"

"Just dandy." Jake said back sarcastically.

"Sorry the boss did that to you." Mona said back.

"No, your not. You're just like him." Jake said back harshly

"Believe me or not, but I'm not and I'm really am sorry. Jackknife and Tajo are too." Mona said coldly back

"If you were really sorry, then why didn't you do anything?" Jake said again.

"We wanted to do something, but we couldn't." Mona said

"Why? Why do you obey him so much and not rise agonist him?" Jake said.

"We don't really have a choice, if we did disobey him in any way, he would beat us or torture us. That is how he as been leader of the gang for so long." Mona said.

"And you let him treat you like that?" Jake said

"If any of us tired to fight him, he would just easily kill us with that tail gun of his, that is his one advantage he as over us." Mona said.

"Why don't you just run away?" said Jake.

'We don't really have a choice in that matter either because we really have no where else to go because we really have no home or family to go too. We are all pretty much like you, Jake, my family was killed when I was young and so was Tajo's. Jackknife can't even remember if he had a family. No one takes pity on our kind. "said Mona sadly

"You all do realize that he is crazy and just using you?" said Jake.

"Yes, we know that, but else can we do? He is the one who took us in when no one else would. He gave us a home and a sense of purpose." Mona said.

"Well, I'm not falling for his game anymore; I'm getting the hell out of here." Jake said.

"That is what I really came here to talk to you about. I think you have a better chance of escaping then any of us because you have a tail gun like his, you can fight him. I have seen what you can do, you are better then him. Don't let him win and rule over you." Mona said

"Believe me, I'm not. I'm still going to escape the next chance I get." Jake said.

"How are going to do it?" said Mona,

"I don't know yet, I will wait for the right moment." said Jake

"We are all hoping that you can, best of luck to ya." said Mona.

With that said, Mona was about to turn away when she realized there something she forgot to say.

"Oh, by the way, it was Tajo that snitched on you back at the town." Mona said again

Jake's eyes went wide with fury and said "why that dirty son of a bi-"

"Wait, before you get angry with him, he was ordered by Sidewinder to keep a close eye on you and to report anything to him." Mona said interrupting Jake.

"That bastard." Said Jake angrily.

"Don't blame him; he was just doing what Sidewinder told him to do." Said Mona

Jake just let out another snarl in disgust.

"Tajo told me what you did, and I'm glad you didn't kill them." Mona said again

Jake lifted his head up a bit more and his eyes went wide with surprise.

"We may be outlaws, but killing innocent people just doesn't seem right." Mona said.

"Glad we can agree on something." Jake said.

With everything said and done, Mona slithered away from Jake and back to where the others were. She was not going to tell anyone else what Jake was planning, she would never snitch on Jake, but she was not sure about Jackknife or Tajo. She was in fear that even though they were not completely under Sidewinder control, they still felt the need to tell him everything, for fear they might get beaten as well.

Jake had to plan an escape, but with Sidewinder keeping a closer eye on him now, an escape would be harder to do. As he thought it out, he thought the best time to try to escape would be when Sidewinder was distracted and not paying attention to him, but that was rare, the only time he was ever not pay attention to Jake was during town raids and even then it was only a few minutes. Jake was Sidewinder's number one focus since the day they meet. This time he had to be prepared to fight him if needed be. Jake was pretty sure he could fight him and win, he have a tail gun like him after all. Now thinking about it that did raise some questions in his head. Why did he give Jake a tail gun when he wanted to insure in remained in charge? Why didn't he give one to the others? Did he think no one would ever challenge him? Jake did not know, he had given up to figure out what went on in that twisted mind of his. Only thing that matter to him now was finding a way to escape.


	5. Ch 5 A train robbery

Origin of a killer Ch 5

A train robbery

Jake's wounds did eventually heal, even thought his wounds healed on the inside, it still left nasty looking scars on his body and it still stung like hell if Jake moved his body the wrong way. Once Jake had fully recovered, the gang went to doing their town raids again, Jake continued to do everything that Sidewinder told him to do without any objections, he knew what would happened if he resisted him again, but really it was just an act, Jake was no longer loyal to Sidewinder once he saw who he really was. Jake would often look to escape from the gang during the town raids, but with Sidewinder watching his every move now, it was almost impossible. He soon figured the only way to escape was to over throw Sidewinder as leader, but he figured he could not do this alone, he had to get help from the other gang members, he knew they did not really like Sidewinder either, but they were either too afraid or too brainwashed to go up against him. Jake figured if they attacked all at once, they could defeat him, Sidewinder could not possibly beat Jake and the others together, he was just one snake with one gun, not a god. Jake just had to convince the others that they could over throw Sidewinder as leader, but he knew that would be no easy task since they were still some what loyal to him.

One night, while the gang was resting in a small cave after a long day of traveling to the next town in the desert, Jake wanted to talk to the others to make a plan to over throw Sidewinder. While the others slept, Jake stayed awake, but only pretended to be asleep. Once he was sure Sidewinder was in a deep sleep, Jake went over to the others and quietly aroused Mona from her sleep, Mona moaned and slowly open her eyes thinking it was the next morning already, but then she looked up in surprise once she found out her had woken her up.

"Jake, what are you doing?" said Mona in a whisper.

"We need to talk, wake up Jackknife and Tajo; they need to hear this too." said Jake

Mona did so without saying anything back. Mona gently nudged both Jackknife and Tajo with her nose against their faces. Once they started to stir, they both let out irradiated moans and grunts as they both slowly started to wake up. Once they were fully awake, they were surprised too to see who had woken then up.

"Jake, Mona? What is the big idea waking us up in the middle of the night?" said Jackknife.

"I need to talk to all of you, but I don't want Sidewinder to hear about it." Said Jake

"What is it, Jake?" Mona asked politely.

"Yeah, out with it, so we can all get back to sleep." Tajo said sounding irradiated.

Jake paused of a minute giving Tajo a angry glare to speaking rudely, but then he said " I need all of your help in my plan to over throw Sidewinder."

"What?" Jackknife spoke loudly. "Are you insane?"

Jake rushed closer to Jackknife to get into his face and said "keep your voice down, you want Sidewinder to hear?"

"You're out of your mind." Jackknife said back in a softer voice.

"You do remember what happened the last time you rose against him?" said Tajo

"Yes, and I will never forget it." Jake said coldly as he backed off from Jackknife and turned towards Tajo.

"That time it was just me, while the rest of you blindly obeyed him and did nothing to rise against him, but this time we will rise against him together, then I'm sure we can over throw him." Jake said again.

"Jake, I already told you, he is the one who took us in, we have no where else to go." Mona said in a sadden tone closing her eyes.

"Not true, you all can still be together as a gang, but you don't need Sidewinder as the leader." Jake said turning towards Mona.

"You don't need him to do the town raids, you all have already learned that on your own and you certainly don't him to remain a strong gang:" Jake continued to say as he faced the others.

'That is all fine and dandy, but how to you suppose we do that?" Tajo blurted out.

"We take him on when he least expects it." Jake said.

"That is just the thing, he is never surprised." said Jackknife

"And he as a gun, we don't" said Tajo

"You seem to forget I have a gun too." Jake said while waving his tail gun in the air.

"I will lead the attack, we will all strike at once, and he can't possibly defend himself against all of us." Jake continued to say.

"I don't know about this, Jake, he is capable of anything.' said Mona.

"Yeah, what if he finds out before hand and does something horrible to all of us?" said Jackknife.

A disgusted frown spread across Jake's face and he then said "humph, listen to yourselves, you all are pathetic. He as brainwashed you all so much into thinking he is some kind of god, but he is just one snake. Sidewinder cares nothing for you all personally; you're all just toys to him. And you all call yourselves deadly vipers when you can't even stand up against one snake."

"But Jake…." Mona spoke out.

"I've heard enough; clearly I'm wasting my time talking to you all." Jake said as he started to slither away from the others.

As Jake started to slither away from the others, he could hear them start to murmur and whisper among themselves in conversation.

Then finally Tajo quickly came towards Jake and said "alright, we'll do it, but this had better work."

"Good, I will let you all know when the time is right.' said Jake as he turns back towards Tajo

Then as Tajo slithered away from Jake, Mona came towards him and said "thanks for that, I think we needed a wake up call."

"It was the only way I could think of to get Jackknife and Tajo to join in." said Jake.

"Well, it worked, but more then that, you gave us hope again." said Mona.

After that, Mona came up to Jake and gave him a light kiss with her touch on his cheek, Jake was surprised and jumped back at little. This was much unexpected of her to do something like that. She then drew away from Jake, smiled a little bit and then turned away. Jake's mind was in a dull haze now; he was not sure what to think of next. After getting over the shock, Jake coiled his body back up and drifted out to sleep.

Over the next few days, Mona had shown a great interest in Jake, more so then just a member of the gang or even as a friend. Mona's view on Jake had drastically changed since he as been with the gang; she had gone from shunning and avoiding him when he first arrived in the gang to caring for him. At first, she thought of him as nothing more then a cold hearted killer like their leader, Sidewinder and for a while he was that way, until recently he as realized the monster he as become. So then Mona saw that Jake had not lost all his emotions and not totally heartless. Even though Jake did realize Mona was showing interested in him, he avoided her and prevented her from getting to deep. I did not want emotions, especially ones like love, to distract him from what really mattered, which was over throwing sidewinder and being free from the gang. But in truth, Jake did start to have feelings for her, she was the only in the gang that cared about him, but he reframed from showing his feeling to her in fear that Sidewinder might find out and hurt her as well.

One evening, when the gang was settling themselves down for another night's rest, Jake was lying on top of a rock formation and staring into the horizon looking at the sunset , thinking of when to proceed the attack on Sidewinder. Then Mona soon came to join him and lied next to him. A few minutes the two just stay silent and continued to stare into the sunset.

Finally, Mona broke the silence and said "nice evening."

"Yeah." Jake said.

Jake was quiet for a moment again, but then said "know you once Sidewinder is over throw, I don't intend to stay with the gang."

"I know that." said Mona

"Where to you intend to go once you leave?" Mona continued to say

"Don't know yet. I will just follow the sunset, go as far west as a can go," said Jake.

"Take me with you. I want to see what is beyond the horizon too. " said Mona

Jake was taken aback by what she had said. , despite having feelings for her, he really did not want her to go with him; he wanted to be on his own. He knew it would never work out in the end.

Then Jake turned towards her with a cold look on his face and said "no."

Mona was surprised Jake had said that.

"When Sidewinder is no more, the gang still needs a leader, they would need you." said Jake.

"But what about you? Don't you want to be leader?" said Mona.

"No, I don't really see myself as being a leader." said Jake.

"Well, I hope you find everything you looking for then." said Mona.

And with that, Mona turned back around and went down the rock formation with a disappointed expression on her face while Jake continued to stare off into the horizon. As Mona left, Jake lowered his head low until the rim of his hat covered his face to try to prevent showing a single tear trickle down his face.

The next day Sidewinder lend the gang to a railroad station in the middle of the desert, the train station was empty at the moment, at first the gang was puzzled to why he had lend them here.

But then Sidewinder turned towards the others and said "I brought you here because a train is going to stop here at this station and we are going to rob it."

Jake and the other gasped at this, the gang as never attempted a train robbery before.

"I know, the risk is great, but the reward will be even greater. If this robbery succeeds, we will be set good for life." said Sidewinder.

The others were still weary about doing this and Jake was suspicious what could possibly be in a train he would want.

"when the train stops, Mona, jackknife and Tajo will strike first, the train will probably be heavily guarded, your job is to distract the guards until I and Jake find the car that as what we are looking for." Said Sidewinder

The other nodded in agreement, even though Jake did not like this idea, he soon nodded in agreement too.

Suddenly Sidewinder could hear the train coming in the distance.

"Everyone hide!" Sidewinder shouted to the others.

Then sidewinder and the other hide behind some rocks that lay near the railroad and waited from the train to stop.

Soon the train arrived at the station and stopped, as soon as the train stopped, the animals that were on that train started to off load some cargo that was on the train. Sidewinder was watching them carefully. Soon he gave the single to Mona and the other to attack and they did so. Mona was the first to run out from her hiding place, Jackknife and Tajo quickly followed. They went for the crew unloading the cargo, once two of the crew members saw the snakes coming; they immediately dropped what they were doing, and started firing off their guns they had with them. Mona and the other two were quick and dodge their bullets. The two crew members quickly got back inside the train box car they off loaded cargo from and shut the car door, just before the snakes reached it. Then one of the crew members popped out at the hatch at the top of the box car and shouted for the train engineer to start the train up again, the engineer did not hesitate, he set his gears to start up the train again and train started to pull away. Sidewinder and Jake did not have time to board the train.

"Blast! Don't let that train escape!" Sidewinder Shouted to he others.

Sidewinder, Jake and the other immediately run after the train as it quickly sped up. Sidewinder and Jake went to one side of the train while Mona, Jackknife and Tajo went around the other side. The snakes were fast enough to race along side it, but the engineer kept increasing the speed of the train. Soon several gunslingers came out on the roof of the train cars and firing off their guns at the snakes to prevent from boarding the train. Despite them all being gunslingers, they all had lousy aim, and their bullets easily missing the snakes. Soon Sidewinder got close enough to the train to make a jump, he did so, he leaped into the air and landed on top of one roofs of the train cars, Jake followed suit and did the same. Once he was on the roof of the train car, he made quick work on the gunslingers there, easily taking them down with his gun tail. Jake just stood back and watched, Jake had no intentions of helping him and was just following him now only to see for himself what the hell Sidewinder wanted so badly.

Meanwhile, Mona, Jackknife and Tajo continued to race along beside the train, but that was becoming difficult. As the train continued to increase speed the snakes were starting to tire out, finding harder to keep up with the train and they could not get close enough to jump on because a few gunslingers at the rear of the train prevented them from doing so. Soon they came the point of being exhausted of trying to keep up the train and dodge bullets. Soon they had no choice but to give up the chase, if they did not stop now, they would all soon pass out from exhaustion and the risk of being shot as too great now. So they soon stopped and let the train speed away. They knew Sidewinder and Jake were still on the train, but they hoped they could put the robbery off without them.

Back on the train, Sidewinder raced along the roof of the train box cars to get to the front of the train with Jake following behind. There was one train box car near the front of the train that was different then the others, it was made out of metal instead of wood and looked to be heavily armored. Jake figured that was what was Sidewinder was after, whatever what was in that box car. Just when Sidewinder was about to reach the metal box car, a gunslinger jumped in front of him, this guy was different then the rest, he looked like he meant serious business, he looked like a true bounty hunter and didn't seem to be afraid of the snake in front of him at all. Sidewinder raised his body in the S shape to make himself look bigger, but that did not work, the gunslinger still stood there.

"Come any closer and I will scatter you brains all over the place." said the gunslinger pointing his gun at the snake's head.

"You are welcomed to try. "said Sidewinder.

After that Sidewinder quickly lunged at the gunslinger, but the gunslinger dodged just in time and fired off his gun. Sidewinder swiftly dodged the bullets and made a strike for the gunslinger again, but the gunslinger rolled out the way just tin time again. Then Sidewinder tried using his gun tail to finish off the gunslinger, but the gunslingers could easily dodge his bullets, clearly this was no ordinary gunslinger, it was like he was trained specify to fight against rattlesnakes. Jake meanwhile just stood back and watched, of course he had no intentions of helping, but he wanted to see the out come of this fight. Suddenly the gunslinger ran swiftly around Sidewinder and was able to jump in his back. Sidewinder tried to get the gunslinger off by thrashing his body around wildly, but the gunslinger had a firm grip on his body. Then the gunslinger pulled out a large knife he had in his pocket and drove into Sidewinder's hide. Sidewinder hissed in pain and continued the thrash his body all around to get the gunslinger off. Meanwhile, while Jake was watching the fight, another gunslinger had appeared behind him, Jake was too preoccupied by the fight to notice the other gunslinger was there, until it was too late. Jake quickly turned around once he heard a click from the other gunslinger's gun, but he couldn't get out the way in time. The gunslinger fired of his gun and Jake was hit hard. The impact made Jake fall of the train and tumble several times along the ground. Sidewinder was too occupied with him fighting with the other gunslinger to notice Jake had fallen off. Finally, Sidewinder was able to get the gunslinger of his back by letting himself fall backwards and his back slam down with the gunslingers underneath him. It did injure the gunslinger, but not had completely taken him out. Sidewinder moved away and the gunslinger slowly got back to his feet. The other gunslinger soon came in to join the fight. It was then that Sidewinder noticed Jake was gone and so were Mona, Jackknife and Tajo. He was the only one left and it was now clearly out numbered. Both gunslingers started to walk towards Sidewinder with their pistols drawn. He knew he could not fight them both, so he decided it was best to retreat. Sidewinder quickly leaped off the train, he tumbled a little bit as he hit the ground, but then quickly sped off. The gunslingers fired off the guns as he raced away, but they had missed him and soon he was out of their range.

This mission had ended in another failure, Sidewinder was utterly furious. How dare Jake and the others leave him hanging like that? Now he wanted to find them and make them pay for abandoning him, especially Jake, since he was the most disrobement one and had not doubt Jake would still try to escape. Sidewinder started to back track along the railroad tracks, hoping Jake and others were still around near here, if they were not, he would surely hunt them down no matter what and kill them.

Meanwhile, Jake was coughing and hacking from being tossed around on the sandy ground. He now lay on the ground almost motionless. His whole body was in agonizing pain, it hurts to even move an inch. As he slowly turned his body he saw the gunshot wound and his own blood pouring out his body. He was in shock to see he was now the one bleeding and dying, it was almost hard to him to believe a outlaw like him be taken down by a mere gunslinger, but that did not matter now, what matter now was that he needed to find help quickly or he would die. At first, he thought about going back to Mona and the others, but then he thought again, this was his chance to escape from Sidewinder, he was no where to be seen and he had no idea what happened after he fell off the train, he hoped he had been killed, but he was not taking any changes by just lying here. He had to move, despite the great pain he was in, he slowly inched his body along away from the railroad tracks and out into the desert. He hated leaving Mona and other two behind, but he didn't have much of a choice, if he went back to Sidewinder now, he would probably kill him.


	6. Ch 6 To hell and back

Origin of a Killer Ch 6

To hell and back

Meanwhile, Mona, Jackknife and Tajo were still near the railroad tracks were that had stopped. They were contemplating on what to do next, Sidewinder and Jake had been gone for a while, and none of them were for sure if the robbery has succeeded or failed.

"What do we do now?" said Tajo.

"I say we wait until either Jake or Sidewinder returns." said Jackknife.

"What if they never return?" said Tajo back

"You forget it is Sidewinder and Jake we are talking about here, guys like them would not be taken down easily by gunslingers." said Jackknife

"I know! Why don't we just run away?" Mona said with excitement.

"What?" both Jackknife and Tajo said in puzzlement.

"You know, like Jake said, be finally free from Sidewinder and become our own gang. This our perfect change to get away." said Mona.

"you know if we did he would just hunt us down and kill us, no matter how far we go, no matter where we hide." said Tajo.

"Tajo as a point, for as long as we been under his belt, he would not let us go that easily." said Jackknife.

Mona lowered her head in disappointment, he hated to admit Tajo was right, Sidewinder was a very determined snake, if he wanted to find someone or something, and he would usually get it. Plus if they ran away he would just do what he did to Jake.

Just then Sidewinder appeared in the distance, quickly slithering towards all three of them. They could see he came empty handed, Jake was not with him and he looked furious. They all knew then that the robbery at ended in failure and they were now going to face his wrath. But what most concerned them was that Jake was not with him, did he get killed by the gunslingers or by Sidewinder or did he escape? They did not know, right now they had a furious boss to deal with.

Sidewinder soon got to them and he shouted out "what the fucking hell was that? How dare you all leave me hanging like that!"

"Sorry boss, but just could not keep up with the train and the gunslingers…" Jackknife said fearfully.

"That is no excuse! You all should have kept doing where I told you do! What the hell have I been training you all for? To be taken down by mere gunslingers?" Sidewinder shouted out again.

All three snakes soon backed away from him and lowered their heads in shame, they knew that were going to get a beating for this.

"And where the blasted hell is Jake?" Sidewinder shouted again.

"He was not with you?' said Mona.

"No! That blasted yellow-bellied son of a bitch abandoned me while I was on the train!" yelled Sidewinder.

All three snakes smiled at little bit knowing Jake had not been killed and may have escaped.

Then Sidewinder rushed in closer to their faces and said "what are you all gockin' at, go search for him! Bring him back to me."

All three snakes just stood there, looking at each other then at Sidewinder with cold expressions.

"What are you all standing around for? Get going!" shouted Sidewinder.

"No." Mona finally said.

Sidewinder's eyes widen in surprise Mona had spoken out against him.

"No? No! How dare you disobey me! I am your boss, you do as I say!" Sidewinder yelled.

"You know, we are tried of you barking orders at us. We're tried of you treating us like slaves and we're tired of you beating us, but mostly were just tired of you." said Jackknife

"What the hell is this? Mutiny?" Sidewinder shouted.

"Jake put you all up to this, didn't he? He has filled your heads with lies and doubt!" Sidewinder shouted again

"No, Jake was right; you are nothing more then an evil manipulative slave driver." said Tajo.

"We don't want to follow you anymore." said Mona.

"You all will pay for your insolence!" Sidewinder said as he started to raise his gun tail at them.

Then Mona, Jackknife and Tajo quickly circled and surrounded Sidewinder from all sides, they were going do what Jake had planned, strike all at once; he could not possibly defend himself from all sides. It would more difficult without Jake, but they wanted to try at least and if they were going to down, they rather go down fighting. Sidewinder saw what they were doing and just hissed at them with his tail gun raised, as if daring them to do it. Mona was the first to strike, she quickly grabbed her whip and wrapped around Sidewinder's tail gun and pulled it the ground, then Jackknife quickly came behind and struck at him with his own deadly fangs, Sidewinder didn't have time to turn around and Jackknife fangs drove deep into his hide of his neck and held his head down to the ground. Jackknife did not let his venom sink into him just yet. Tajo was about make the final strike himself. Sidewinder then started firing off his tail gun, despite that fact it was still pinned to the ground, not really caring if he hit anything or not. Suddenly one of his bullets grazed Mona on her side causing her to let go of her whip. Once Sidewinder's tail gun was free from Mona's whip, he swung his tail gun around and smacked Jackknife in the face with it causing to let go for him.

Sidewinder immediately got back and moved his body away from the other three snakes. Mona and Jackknife quickly recovered and they all started to circle around Sidewinder again, but this time he was not going to fall for the same trick twice. Jackknife decided to draw one his knives out, ready to take down sidewinder with his knife instead. Sidewinder saw this and quickly fired his tail gun at him, Jackknife managed dodged it, but one bullet only grazed him causing him to give out a cry of pain which made him drop his knife. Sidewinder immediately drove for the knife Jackknife had dropped and grabbed it for himself. Mona tried to just her whip again, but Sidewinder dodge it, then Tajo tried to make a strike at him from behind, but sidewinder knew what he was going to do and quickly turned around and slashed Tajo's face with the knife he had in his mouth. Jackknife draw out another one his knives from his belts and went for another go at him, Sidewinder quickly turned towards him with his own knife in his mouth, soon both their blades meet and it was now a pushing struggle between the two. Mona tried for another go at him from behind, but he managed to fire his tail gun, which prevented her from getting close. Sidewinder managed to do the impossible, while he was struggling with Jackknife, he still managed to fire off his tail gun at Mona, it was like he had eyes the back of his head. As Sidewinder continued to struggle with Jackknife, pushing their blades further into each other, to see who could over power who first. After a while Sidewinder was actually started to push Jackknife back, Jackknife was surprised how much strength this older snake had. Jackknife's month started to quiver, finding it hard to keep hold of his knife. Suddenly Sidewinder broke free from their knife duel and quickly slashed Jackknife's face. Then Tajo, who had recovered from the knife slash to his face, came at Sidewinder with his ball and chain and tried to smash his head in with the ball, but Sidewinder was quicker and managed to grab Tajo's chain and with intense strength used his own weapon against him and threw him into the air and slammed him down on the ground hard.

Mona then made a strike for Sidewinder again, but again he fired his tail gun at her, this time he did not miss, one bullet made a clear hit on her. She immediately collapsed on the ground and did not get back up. Then Jackknife came at him again, this time baring his fangs and letting an out hiss of rage, but Sidewinder quickly turned to face him and in one quick blur he stabbed Jackknife in the gut with his own knife. He too then collapsed on the ground with his own blood gushing out of him like a fountain. Mona was still alive, and saw what happened, she cried out to him as he fell, but she could do nothing, her body was just in to much pain to even move. Tajo then recovered from being tossed and soon saw both his comrades were lying on the ground bleeding and dying. Sidewinder then slowly turned towards Tajo with the most sinister glare ever and the knife still in his mouth, blood dripping from it. Tajo was scared out of his mind now; he was the only one left. It seemed impossible of one rattlesnake to take down three other snakes at once, but he did. Tajo knew he had no chance of winning now, he wanted to run away, but what of kind fighter would he be just to abandoned his comrades now and let them die. If was going to go down, he was going down fighting. He would try one last effort, for Mona, for Jackknife and for Jake, wherever he was. Tajo then charged at Sidewinder letting out a loud hiss and baring his fangs. Sidewinder soon charged at well, in one swift motion stabbed Tajo with the knife was well and he too soon fell the ground to join his dying comrades. Mona, Jackknife and Tajo were all still alive; the wounds inflicted upon were not great enough to completely kill them. Even though they were still alive and were aware of everything, they were too wounded to get back up and fight. They all were breathing heavily as their own blood continued to spit on the ground. Sidewinder then spat out the knife and eyed all three snakes angrily; he didn't want to kill them just yet.

"I should not waste my time sparing your pathetic lives." Sidewinder finally said as he slithered over their bloody and broken bodies

"You will all suffer, suffer the greatest pain from the darkest depths of hell. " Sidewinder continued to say.

Then he turned to look out over the horizon, out into the desert and then said "as for you Jake, I will find you, no matter where you go, no matter where you hide, I will find you."

Meanwhile, Jake was far away from the battle scene and the railroad, slowly inching his way across the desert landscape, blood continue to ooze out of his bullet wound. Despite every part of his body screaming in pain, he wanted to press on, get as far away from Sidewinder as possible. It soon became nightfall; Jake knew it was definitely a bad idea to travel at night in his condition, he would just be an easy target for a predator, so then he started to look for a place to rest. He looked around everywhere for a good while, but nothing seemed suitable. Soon he found a crevasse among some rocks he could easily fit into and he slowly slithered his way inside. Once he got inside, it settled her body down, again his body was in too much to try and coil up into a ball, so he just lay there out stretched. As he laid there, his breathing became really heavy, I knew he was going to die, there was no going back from this, he had lost a lot of blood already and he knew he was miles away from any kind of help. He could feel is life force slowly drifting away from him, the world around him growing darker. Perhaps this was for the best, he could finally rest in peace and join his family in the afterlife, and his only regret was he never knew what became of Mona, Jackknife or Tajo and that he did not have the chance to kill Sidewinder by his own hands…or gun really. Soon the light in his eyes slowly faded away and his world went into complete darkness.

At first Jake saw nothing, heard nothing, couldn't even smell or taste anything, it was all just pitch blackness_. Is this what the afterlife is like?_ Jake thought. _Well if it is, it sure blows_. Jake thought to himself again. Then a bright red light appeared in front of him and from that light a form became to appear, the form soon shaped out to be a crow, the biggest crow he had ever seen, almost as big as him. The crow silently glided down with the red light still behind him and landed in front of Jake and stared at him. Jake could see the crow had bright orange and red colored eyes, like two like pools of fire. The being in front of Jake was no surprise to him; he knew what the crow was here for.

"I suppose you're the one to take me to the afterlife?" said Jake.

"_Indeed, come with me. Master wishes to speak with you." _said the crow.

Jake just nodded his head in response. Then the crow took flight again and flew back towards the red light, Jake fallowed right behind. Soon the red light grew even brighter and larger as they came towards it and soon a thin red line formed, slicing through the darkness, the line soon grew wider and wider, until it seemed more a doorway then a line. It seemed the gate to hell itself was opening up. Once Jake got through the doorway, things became more visible, huge rock formations started to appear, bigger and taller then anything Jake had seem in the desert and hued a deep crimson color. The ground was bare, no life existed on it what so ever, it had the same crimson red color as the rock formations. The ground was cracked in places, showing what appeared to be lava oozing out of the cracks. There were also deep pits placed all thought out the landscape, fire emitting from them. This barren desolate landscape seemed to go on forever with no end in sight, Jake then looked up into the sky, only there was no sky, just an endless mass of what looked like swinging clouds, what looked like lighting would often appear in the endless swinging mass. Everything seemed to be burning, even the ground Jake slithered along on, but his skin did not burn. Jake knew the heat had to be intense in a place like this, yet he could not feel it. Jake knew where he was now, he was in hell.

"Well, I always knew I end up here eventually." he said to himself as he continued to look over the landscape.

Once Jake got fully thought the doorway, it slowly closed behind him, Jake turned around and watched it close, soon it fully shut and it was as if it never been there at all. Jake then turned back and continued to follow the crow. The crow lead Jake on into the hellish landscape for a good while. As they went, Jake could hear horrible cries and screams they seemed to come from no where, as if someone was being endlessly tortured. The cries and screams brought back awful memories in his head. Jake tried his best to ignore it, but it seemed to eat away at his mind. The crow soon lead him to a huge pit filled with fire, the crow then swiftly flew high up and landed itself on a perch high above on a rock formation. Then crow let out a loud caw that even hurt Jake's ears. What Jake saw next sent an icy chill to his very bones.

A gigantic snake quickly emerged from the fiery pit, his scales were the color of pitch black, but a bight orange color emitted thought the cracks in his scales, huge flames emitted from its back and its eyes were swirling with the color of bight orange and yellow with the tiniest slit of a pupil, like its eyes were two huge pools of lava. It had its mouth open slightly and a dull orange color emitted from it too. It was like the being was made from fire. Despite being literally scared out of his mind from the site of this being, Jake tried his best to stay calm.

"Let me guess, the devil himself." Jake said

"_Close"_ said the gigantic serpent in a deep booming voice. "_But no, I am not him, I am a mere dispel of him. I am the great fire serpent god, Fuegros."_

Jake just continued to eye him cautiously.

"_I have been watching you from the mortal world. My massagers have told me a lot about you. You are like the perfect assassin; you kill without regret or remorse, the perfect weapon of death. You leave a bloody trail behind you. " _the serpent continued to say

Jake lowered his head in shame, he did not like being called that, but it was the truth of what he was. Soon after, Jake picked his head back up again to look at the large serpent.

"What do you want from me?" Jake asked.

The serpent leaned closer to Jake and said "_the question should be what you can get from me?"_

Jake was a little confused on what the gigantic snake had said.

"What do you mean?" Jake said to the huge snake.

"_You do wish to return to the mortal world to live again, yes?" _said the serpent

"How can you do that? No one can bring the dead back to life." said Jake skeptically.

"_I am a god, I process powers beyond your understanding." _said the serpent.

"I thought once you were in the afterlife, you can never come back." said Jake 

"_True, but sometimes if something so horrible is committed on the one who as diseased, the soul can return, I can grant this." _said the serpent.

Jake then though about it for a minute, what if this gigantic serpent was saying is true and he could return to the living, would he want that? It would bring him some benefit, he could finally know if Mona was alright and that he could finally get to kill Sidewinder by his own hands.

"If I agree to this, my body and soul will be fully restored?" said Jake.

"_Yes, and much more, but I want something in return." _said the serpent.

"Crap, knew there had to be a catch." said Jake.

The serpent again leaned closer down to Jake and said _"souls, I want them. Every soul you kill I want sent to me. The more souls you kill, the longer you shall live. So, what say you, grim reaper of the west?"_

Jake thought about it for a minute again, on one hand he could go back and take his revenge on Sidewinder, but on another hand he would have to continue killing people, he was not sure if he wanted to continue doing that, but staying here didn't look all that good either, even for him hell was like….well, hell. After thinking it though for a bit longer, he finally came to his decision.

"Fine, we have a deal." said Jake to the serpent.

"_Then it is done." _said the serpent.

Then the gigantic serpent leaned down towards Jake so close he was almost touching him, Jake got fearful again, but did not dare move. Then the serpent's mouth opened with its orange fiery light coming from it. Then a much smaller snake made purely of fire slithered from its mouth. Then in one quick motion the much smaller snake lurched for Jake and wrapped itself around Jake's neck. Jake winced in pain as it did so.

Jake abruptly woke up and quickly bolted upright, he franticly looking around himself for a few seconds until he realized he was back in the mortal world. He was back in the small crevasse in which he had laid down and died, or did he die? Was all of what had just happened just a dream? No, he knew it was real, he had died, passed into hell itself and now was brought back. Jake soon noticed he body was no longer in pain, he looked over his body and saw his bullet wound was no longer there, completely healed as if it had never been there at all. The fire serpent god I kept his end of the deal, but now it was Jake's turn to keep his. He slowly slithered out from in between the rocks, it was at the break of dawn when Jake had woken up, and the first rays of sunlight were peaking over the desert valley, making everything a brilliant gold color. Jake continued on his way deep into the desert valley.

Jake now had a job to do, he had to find the nearest town and find someone to kill so he could take the soul to the fire serpent god that had given him life again. I did want to find Sidewinder again to take his revenge on him. It didn't matter how strong the snake was, he had a god from hell to back him up now, he also wanted to find Mona to know if she was alright and to tell her sorry for being so cold to her and abandoning her, he did start to have feelings for her, but was a afraid to show them in case Sidewinder would hurt her. But none of that was on his top list of priorities now, he had to find souls and quick, of course he knew just killing random people from towns would not go over so well, so he decided to become a gunslinger for hire, it there was someone that needed to taken down, good or bad, he would be the one to do it. Of course, if sidewinder ever crossed his path again, he would surely kill him.

So from then on, Jake traveled from town to town in the desert that were troubled, asking if there were any unruly people that needed to taken out and would get a few quotes of water as payment in return. Of course, Jake knew he was getting a much bigger payment in return too, every person he killed, their soul was sent to hell to the fire serpent god and he continued to live on. Soon his reputation spread though the desert as the most feared outlaw in the west. If he came to hunt you down, you were dead meat, no other way around it. Eventually in his travels, he came to a small town known as **Dirt.**

THE END


End file.
